Watch This Culinary Genius Cook an Entire Thanksgiving Turkey in Just 35 Minutes

Total game-changer.

Brandon Friederich

Nov 21, 2016

Spatchcocked Turkey [YouTube/Serious Eats]

If you’re sick of slaving over an oven for hours on end to painstakingly prepare a Thanksgiving turkey, then you’ve gotta watch this ridiculously time-saving video above from the New York Times.

By removing the bird’s backbone and flattening it out to increase it’s surface area, culinary journalist Mark Bittman’s time-saving method makes it entirely possible to cook a ten-pound turkey at 450 degrees in 45 minutes or less.

It sounds too good to be true, but Bittman has used the technique—which he first revealed back in 2002—successfully many times over the years.

Watch him cook a bird in just 35 minutes (!) in the video above.

Ingredients

1 8- to 12-pound turkey
10 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed, more to taste
1 branch fresh tarragon or thyme separated into sprigs, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or tarragon
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil or butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1:
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put turkey on a stable cutting board breast side down and cut out backbone. Turn turkey over, and press on it to flatten. Put it, breast side up, in a roasting pan. Wings should partly cover breasts, and legs should protrude a bit.

Step 2:
Tuck garlic and tarragon under the bird and in the nooks of the wings and legs. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Step 3:
Roast for 20 minutes, undisturbed. Turkey should be browning. Remove from oven, baste with pan juices, and return to oven. Reduce heat to 400 degrees (if turkey browns too quickly, reduce temperature to 350 degrees).

Step 4:
Begin to check turkey’s temperature about 15 minutes later (10 minutes if bird is on the small side). It is done when thigh meat registers 165 degrees on an instant-read meat thermometer. Check it in a couple of places.

Step 5:
Begin to check turkey’s temperature about 15 minutes later (10 minutes if bird is on the small side). It is done when thigh meat registers 165 degrees on an instant-read meat thermometer. Check it in a couple of places.

Other chefs have also adopted this awesomely game-changing method, ranging from Rachel Ray to the intrepid foodies at Serious Eats. For more info on the spatchcock method, check out the mouthwatering videos below.